


somewhere down the line

by samstoleaburger



Category: Corpse Party (Video Game)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Gen, Implied/Referenced PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Mochida Satoshi is Not Oblivious, Moving On, Not Ayumi Friendly, Past Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Post-Game(s), Satoshi is a Good Friend, Sorry Not Sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-10-03 04:44:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17277299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samstoleaburger/pseuds/samstoleaburger
Summary: Granted, Yoshiki had said he wasn't going to give up on her but...





	somewhere down the line

**Author's Note:**

> Completely ignores most of Book of Shadows as I've never played (don't have a PSP) or watched it in its entirety after Corpse Party ends. However, I did mix both game and manga scenarios in here. This is pretty much a vent-fic, to be honest, and a dash of 'moving on' in the mix. Along with a few other things but...before that...
> 
> If you're an Ayumi fan/stan/whatever people are calling it nowadays, hit the back button now. 'cause I'm not going to bother with anyone bitching about what happens in this fic.

He could remember two key pieces of his argument with Shinozaki after escaping Tenjin Elementary the first time through Yuki. How Yuki had shown Shinozaki her death and how she mentioned that it would be a one way trip if they went back per Shinozaki's request. There was no guaranteeing their safety once they go through with it. Yoshiki didn't think he was in the wrong for his hesitation to jump right back in. Not after seeing their classroom again after hours in that Hellhole.  
  
However, Shinozaki saw it in a completely different manner and she really drove the metaphorical knife right where it hurt.  
  
_"That's what I hate about you! You're a delinquent! A coward! A fucking pussy! You don't care about what happens to anyone else, Kishinuma?! As long as you're okay?! You don't care if they...if your friends..._ die in there _?"_  
  
Still didn't change the fact he knew exactly who she was really going back for. He wasn't blind to her blatant jealousy whenever it came to Nakashima being close to Satoshi. How could he when it was clear on her face and in her actions?  
  
_"Ha...! Our 'friends?!' Stop trying to sound so noble! I bet you just want to save_ Satoshi _. It's always, 'Mochida this,' 'Mochida that!' Give me a break! I worked my ass off trying to keep you safe...but you - you're still only focused on Satoshi!"_  
  
Granted, Yoshiki had said he wasn't going to give up on her but...  
  
_"Get away from Mochida! You can't have Mochida!_ I'm _the one who's going home with Mochida!"_  
  
But having it thrown in his face like that, thrown to the ground because both he and Satoshi were trying to stop Shinozaki from killing Nakashima was a whole other story. Especially with the fact that she would have succeeded, being as deranged as she was like whenever she got possessed, if Taguchi hadn't arrived when he did. Otherwise Nakashima would have a glass shard embedded in her right eye socket and who knows who would've been next.  
  
Yoshiki wouldn't even put it past Shinozaki to kill Yuka if she dared to take Satoshi's attention away like she nearly had to Nakashima.  
  
That and, well, Shinozaki didn't really seem to care about him to begin with, if he has to be honest. Yoshiki isn't dumb enough to fool himself into believing so. Hoping, yes, but not believing. Not after she made it clear of what she thought of him and how she'd abandoned him after Suzumoto's death. How she ran off, leaving him behind and left at the mercy of Yoshikazu.  
  
However, Satoshi...  
  
Satoshi was truly the first person to reach out to him in the longest time. Even if it was to fill in the class log. He just pushed it into Yoshiki's hands and essentially told him, 'It's all up to you.'  
  
How could Yoshiki hate a guy that was so genuinely nice and easy going? There was no way. Even if Satoshi seemed to be pulling off a love angle while being completely oblivious to it at the same time. Which was fine. It wasn't like Satoshi would do anything cruel to Shinozaki or Nakashima.  
  
No one was entitled to anyone, after all, and Yoshiki did consider Satoshi one of his best friends.  
  
_"Pull yourself together! We can't count on you for anything."_  
  
_"That's okay. We have you!"_  
  
If that wasn't some form of validation from Satoshi then Yoshiki must actually be a natural redhead. (He's not but the point still applies.)  
  
Still, after all the insanity at Heavenly Host and finally getting back after freeing Sachiko from the endless loop of hatred and pain, everything was going back to...not normal. Not even remotely _close_ to normal, as no one aside from them remembered Shinohara, Suzumoto, Ms. Yui and Morishige. As if they were erased from existence, like they never existed in the first place and the photos they had of them on their phones had their faces smudged out. Slowly eroding and fading altogether over time. With only their memory keeping them alive in everyone's hearts.  
  
Nakashima clung desperately to Shinohara's ghost. Refusing some days to believe that she was gone and occasionally lapsing in the promise they'd all made to keep what happened between them. She kept all the repeated texts of, 'No hard feelings,' and reread the others that she'd exchanged with Shinohara prior to Tenjin.  
  
Shinozaki, oddly enough, got more into occultism and Yoshiki made a mental note to skip out on any future charms she tried to get them to do. She did occasionally tense up whenever there was a snip of scissors nearby but that was probably attributed to how real Yuki's memory felt.  
  
Yuka had been put in the hospital and put under surveillance for two months. Even after getting out, Satoshi and their parents kept a constant eye on her whenever they could. She had scars from the incisions in her skin but Satoshi said that she was doing just fine. Barring nightmares, obviously.  
  
Satoshi was recovering, his stomach needing more time to heal than the rest of him. The bandages around his arm were taken off about a month in being home. He seemed to be dealing well, all things considered. Though he confided in Yoshiki once, up on the roof, that he wasn't sure how to handle Yuka and her confession back in Heavenly Host. How she loved him more than family and that, now that he thought about it, Yuka did act a little weird sometimes.  
  
Yoshiki, honestly, didn't know how to respond to that aside from patting Satoshi's shoulder while saying, "That's rough, buddy."  
  
That being said, Yoshiki figured that maybe he and Satoshi were having an easier time adjusting than everyone else. Despite the broken sleep some several nights in a row and waking up in cold sweat, hearing Sachiko's sadistic laughter echoing in the still of the room. Feeling old wounds throb from the phantom pain and heart pounding in his chest as he tried to regulate his breathing.  
  
He made sure to keep it as under wraps as he could to avoid Miki finding out and worrying more than she already was.  
  
Yoshiki wanted to do anything but speak of what exactly went down in that school. He sometimes froze before setting foot into his class, a lingering fear of opening the door one day and being forced to endure Hell again. Knowing the others felt the same way gave him some solidarity in his fears.

* * *

"Aw man..." Satoshi frowned at his open lunchbox and saw a note from his mom saying that she forgot to make a lunch the night before. A crisp bill tucked under the slip of paper for a melon bread or something for his replacement lunch. He heaved a sigh as he closed the box with a slump of his shoulders. "I'm not going to make it to the cafeteria before they're all gone."  
  
"Dude, that sucks." Yoshiki lifted his chopsticks to get another bite of his plain rice with fried shrimp. He chewed while regarding Satoshi, seeing him pout despondently at his box and how his stomach rumbled its disappointment. "Quit with the face, man. You're giving me hives."  
  
"But I'm so hungry, Yoshiki." Satoshi set his lunchbox aside and leaned forward on his elbows. "I overslept and I missed breakfast too." He sighed again before glancing over to Yoshiki's box out the corner of his eye. After a moment, he turned just enough to face Yoshiki. "I know you probably don't want to share but can I have some? Please?"  
  
Yoshiki narrowed his eyes with a displeased grumble as he continued to chew.  
  
"I'll buy you a crepe on the way home?"  
  
He swallowed then reached in for some more.  
  
"I'll...get you a soda?"  
  
Yoshiki popped his bite into his mouth and shifted his gaze over toward Satoshi. Only to be blasted with a pleading look and Satoshi being a bit closer than he was earlier. He nearly choked once he sucked in a surprised breath and Yoshiki beat on his chest with his fist as he kept his grip tight on the container.  
  
"Holy shit, Satoshi!" he wheezed after clearing his airway. "What the fuck? Jeezus! Nevermind. Here!" Yoshiki held out his lunchbox. "Take some!"  
  
Satoshi's face lit up and he grinned. “Oh man. You're the best, Yoshiki! A total lifesaver!” He reached for his box to pull out the chopsticks he'd already set in there the night prior and snapped them apart.  
  
“Yeah, yeah.” Yoshiki muttered, moving to grab another bite with a fried shrimp clasped between his chopsticks. “Not like you were giving me much of a choice.”  
  
He got a nervous laugh in response before Satoshi reached for some as well. The second he closed his mouth around the sticks and the flavor hit his tongue, Satoshi hummed. He chewed with a pleasant smile on his face and immediately leaned over for more.  
  
“Oh man. I'm totally stealing your lunch from now on. I can't believe you made this.”  
  
Yoshiki rolled his eyes and swatted at Satoshi's hand with the top of his chopsticks after a few minutes. “Don't get greedy, you ass! I'm sharing it with you out of the kindness of my heart. So I can easily take it back as well.”  
  
“Don't be like that! It's not my fault your cooking is great.” Satoshi moved for a smaller clump this time. “I always get so jealous when you're paired up with Shinozaki because whatever we're making that day smells amazing whenever you make it.”  
  
“Yeah…?” Yoshiki paused for a moment and looked toward the other fence across from them. “I'm thinking about asking the teach not to pair me up with her anymore.”  
  
Satoshi froze, his hand poised in the air, chopsticks hovering above the remaining bits of rice. He blinked and rose his gaze to look at Yoshiki's closed off expression. “What…? Why?”  
  
Yoshiki snorted and lowered his head to peer down into his container. “No offense but I'm kind of sick of her looking at me like I murdered her dog whenever my cooking turns out better than hers. And hers looks like death on a plate. I shit you not, the fish was saying, ‘Kill me,’ when I looked at it.” He scowled and placed his chopsticks in the box before passing over what was left to Satoshi. “It's a shared grade and every single time I save our asses, she's just got this look on her face, right? Like I shouldn't be better than her and that she should be the one to do it. And I'm honestly _sick of it_.”  
  
“Well…” Satoshi placed the lunchbox in his lap with a frown on his face as he regarded Yoshiki with the utmost sincerity. “You can be my partner. After Suzumoto…” He bit the inside of his cheek and sighed. “After that, well, my partner hasn't really been the same, you know? I'd rather you enjoy the class instead of hating it just because you're really good at it.”  
  
Yoshiki blinked and jerked slightly, turning his head to look Satoshi in the eye. He swallowed the lump that formed in his throat and gave a small nod. “I...I'll think about it.”  
  
The smile that graced Satoshi's lips almost made it seem like he already knew the answer.

* * *

Shinozaki had unceremoniously shoved him to the ground before crawling over his legs, trapping them and restricting their movement. He could force her off but the sudden grip she had on his shirt, fisting it and crumpling the fabric, and on his hand gave a different impression. Her eyes were wide, a crazed smile breaking across her face as she panted. Staring at him and bringing his hand closer to her face.  
  
She wouldn't let go no matter how he tried to squirm away. She didn't respond even though he was calling out to her, his voice steadily getting more shrill with panic. She -  
  
Shinozaki ripped his shirt open with one hand, the strength she exude was clearly not her own. The tearing sound sending a terrified chill down his spine and he whimpered when she stuck her tongue out and licked from the butt of his palm to the tip of his middle finger. Wet, slick, too much saliva like she'd been _drooling_ thinking about what she's going to do to him.  
  
They needed to get out of the nurse's office and get back to the others. He didn't want -  
  
He didn't even like Shinozaki this way and yet…  
  
She ran her hand up under the strip of fabric she'd torn off, her thumb skimming his stomach as he pushed fruitlessly at her arm. _No. No, no, no. Stop._  
  
Her teeth grazed the tip of his clutched fingers, nipping every time he tried to move away and the force getting harder, more aggressive, with each attempt. She pressed herself up against him, rocking and making sure to grind right on his dick. His very uninterested, not chubbing in the slightest cock. The animalistic sound she made was the only warning he got before she reached for his pants, hooking her fingers under the belt line and tugging them down. Only to have them catch on his hips since he managed to finally, finally bend his knees and -  
  
Where was Yoshiki? Why hasn't he busted down the door yet?  
  
He can't get Shinozaki off him. She's too strong, too deranged, too -  
  
“Shinozaki! Stop! Please!”  
  
She practically tore the button holding his jeans together off, unzipping them without pause and she giggled as she reached inside his boxers to -  
  
Satoshi let out a strangled yell as he bolted upright in his bed. His fists clenching the sheets at his sides, breaths fast and heavy and _not enough_. He looked to every corner of his room, jerking back and scrambling to get his back to the wall. To protect himself, he reasoned, so he'd spot his enemy and escape before they got hold of him. Big, fat tears rolled down his cheeks as the reality of the situation hit him.  
  
He was safe. He was home.  
  
He wasn't in the nurse's office. Shinozaki wasn't here. She wasn't anywhere near him and she definitely didn't…  
  
But she tried to. Darkening or not, she tried to and almost did. If Yoshiki hadn't come back with her, if Yoshiki had taken any longer to break down the door…  
  
Satoshi let out a wrecked sob as he curled up and held his knees closer to him. He pressed his forehead to his knees and sucked in breath after breath as his tears hit his pajama pants in wet splotches. His arms shook and his hands held on desperately to his pant legs.  
  
He couldn't believe how naive he'd been back then. How stupid did he have to be to not notice that something was seriously wrong with Shinozaki at the time? How do you miss a smile that's a near representation of the ones the evil spirits had? Of a person that's reached their breaking point. How could he not see that he should've told everyone in confidence that Shinozaki was acting weird?  
  
How she almost -  
  
It wasn't...necessarily her fault. But how many times could someone say that before it tastes like ash in their mouth?  
  
It wasn't her fault that they did the charm wrong and got sent to Heavenly Host.  
  
It wasn't her fault that she essentially threatened Naomi.  
  
It wasn't her fault that she got possessed countless times.  
  
It wasn't her fault that Yoshiki got taken by Yoshikazu as she'd been so terrified at the time.  
  
It wasn't her fault that she'd shoved him down and tried to force herself on him.  
  
It wasn't her fault that she got so close to taking Naomi's life.  
  
It wasn't her fault that she hid Naomi's paper scrap until the very end.  
  
They definitely started tasting like acid after a while.  
  
Satoshi slowly lifted his head and wiped at his face with a grimace before turning to look for his phone. Leaning forward, he reached for it on the nightstand and bit his lip as his fingers skimmed the surface. He made two more fumbling grabs before he got a hold of it and flipped it open as he pressed himself back against the wall. Satoshi flicked it on, going into the contacts section and highlighted the one he needed to call the most.  
  
It wasn't a school night, so by all logic, he should still be up.  
  
At least, Satoshi hoped he was.  
  
He pressed call before really considering the consequences if Yoshiki was actually getting a full night's sleep and he nearly hung up upon realizing this before the dial tone came to an abrupt end.  
  
“What the fuck, Satoshi?” Yoshiki's voice was hoarse and clearly still under the dregs of sleep. Slow and mumbled. “It's…” There was a momentary pause, a shuffle of bed sheets and a groan before Yoshiki got back to the phone with, “It's fucking four in the morning.”  
  
“I'm sorry.” Satoshi rushed out, curling back up into a ball and clutching to his phone with both of his hands. “I'm so sorry.”  
  
“You know, I kind of figured I'd hear you say that after you told me why you decided to call this early but I'll take it.”  
  
“No, Yoshiki. I'm not…” He squeezed his eyes shut and bit his lip in an attempt to keep the lingering dread from his nightmare at bay. “I'm…”  
  
“Hey, Satoshi, you doing alright? You sound a little…” Yoshiki trailed off and left the ending up to interpretation.  
  
‘freaked out.’  
  
‘out of it.’  
  
“The nurse's office. It happened in the nurse's office.” Satoshi took in a shaky breath and trembled. “Shinozaki started acting weird after Yoshie left. She...she just...pushed me and started getting really close. I didn't - I wasn't...I was freaking out, Yoshiki. I should've noticed but I didn't - I couldn't -”  
  
“Satoshi.”  
  
He snapped his mouth shut, his teeth clicking at the impact and let out a terrified sob. “I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I should have told you -”  
  
“ _Satoshi_! Shut up for a minute and listen to me!” Yoshiki took in a deep breath before he sighed, the sound crackling over the earpiece. “I'm not mad about that. I just...I saw something moving around her in the library after Sachiko killed Kibiki and Naho. I thought - I hoped that it was just the stress of the situation getting to me. That maybe I was seeing things but…”  
  
Whatever Yoshiki was thinking of saying was left unsaid. The implications left up for debate but Satoshi got the feeling he knew what he meant. Only their breathing filled the silence, Satoshi's rapid heartbeat slowly easing into a more steady pace.  
  
“She was really worried about you, y'know. Shinozaki.” Yoshiki whispered, voice soft and sounding oh-so broken. Tired, resigned and exactly like their conversation back on the roof. “It was always, ‘Mochida this,’ and, ‘Mochida that.’” The laugh he let out was wet and pained. “It was like no one else existed except for you. Everyone else was just...there. With no real meaning to her. Sure, she cared about Suzumoto and Ms. Yui but other than that…? We didn't matter. Not _there_.”  
  
“Yoshiki -”  
  
“No. Just...just let me spell it out for you, okay? I know a lost cause when I see one and I'm not expecting it to change any time soon.” He sighed and the rustle of fabric was picked up. “She likes you, Satoshi. That's why she lost her mind and almost killed Nakashima. Because the two of you have known each other for the longest time and are so comfortable together. Shinozaki was _jealous_.”  
  
“What...what are you…?”  
  
“You're her precious Satoshi.”  
  
The way Yoshiki said it, bitter and full of resentment, almost made Satoshi lose hold of his phone. It sounded so final and possessive in such a way that made his skin crawl. Like Satoshi was some kind of object and not allowed to make his own choices. To be his own person.  
  
“- just thought you should know. Get your head out of your ass since it's so far up there that it's reached Dumb Fuck Village. Population one.”  
  
Satoshi narrowed his eyes, his remorse from earlier being set ablaze with frustration. “I…” He grit his teeth, tightening his grip on his phone with one hand as his other fisted his thigh. “I don't like Shinozaki that way!”  
  
“Yeah? And what about Nakashima?”  
  
“Naomi is a good friend. I've already told you how I feel about her. Why do you need me to say it again?”  
  
“Maybe because you finally stopped being oblivious to how you had three girls vying for your attention.”  
  
“There's a difference between being oblivious and pretending it's not there!” Satoshi sucked in a breath and ducked his head. He let go of his thigh and ran his fingers through his hair as he closed his eyes. “I didn't know about Yuka but I kind of figured with Shinozaki and Naomi. Shinohara didn't make it too hard to know that Naomi's feelings toward me changed.”  
  
“So...what?” Yoshiki ground out. “You figured ignoring it would make everything easier?”  
  
“If I say, ‘Yes,’ you'll get mad.” He pressed his lips into a thin line and turned to look at the door leading to Yuka's room. “To be honest, I thought that if I didn't act like I knew that...at the very least...Shinozaki would eventually give up. That she would move on and finally give you a chance.”  
  
There was an abrupt clatter, louder than it should've been. Sounding vaguely like a phone being dropped onto a hardwood or laminate flooring but closer. Yoshiki's muffled and distant cursing was barely picked up for a minute before his, “- you fucking asshole!” came in crystal clear.  
  
“This isn't about me, Satoshi! What the fuck?! You can't just go around saying that! Fuck...it's too early for this shit.”  
  
“Yoshiki, I'm serious. I didn't expect her to keep liking me after all these years. I knew how you felt so I thought that I could give you a fighting chance.” Satoshi closed his eyes as a small smile tugged at the corner of his lip. He straightened up and leaned back against the wall, tipping his head to the side with a low hum. “Hey...do you remember the phone number exchange? Before the school festival?”  
  
“...yeah. You told me not to give her my number and that you'd handle it since I was busy helping Suzumoto move the desks.”  
  
“About that...I didn't give her my number.”  
  
“You - what?”  
  
“I didn't give her _my number_ , Yoshiki. I gave her yours. Maybe she thought it was a mistake after you texted her first and, man, I still can't believe you did that.” He chuckled at the memory of Yoshiki getting all flustered while typing up something on his phone, trying to look as casual as possible but the telltale reddening of his face said otherwise. “She never brought it up to me, though, and no one told me off for ‘forgetting.’”  
  
“You…didn't give her your number.”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“You gave her mine instead…”  
  
“The fact that that's what you're focused on tells me that I've broken you and I can't tell if I should be proud of myself or not.”  
  
“Satoshi - I don't - why did you -”  
  
“Because you deserve to be happy.” He paused for a moment and opened his eyes with a frown. “But...when you told me you wanted to stop being paired up with her in cooking, I knew something was wrong. She gave you that ‘murdered her dog’ look countless times before and Shinohara might like to exaggerate sometimes but it's hard not to believe it when I've seen it myself. You didn't really mind much then. So what changed?”  
  
“I'm just…” Yoshiki trailed off with a frustrated groan. “I'm just tired, okay? I'm sick of being treated like shit and being told I'm not _good enough_. Just because I like her doesn't mean I'm her punching bag because you're not paying attention to her.”  
  
Satoshi jerked away from the wall as he shouted, “ _What?_ ” and quickly covered his mouth, eyes darting to Yuka's door. He simply breathed for a total of ten seconds before he lowered his hand and hissed, “She's been doing that to you?!”  
  
“Honestly...I probably deserved it when I didn't want to go back to Tenjin. I mean, we got out and Yuki said we could leave if we wanted to. I worked my ass off to make sure Shinozaki got out but the second I didn't want us to go back, I'm the bad guy.”  
  
“That doesn't make you a bad person, Yoshiki. Anyone would've walked away but you came back for us.”  
  
“Doesn't really matter in the end. Did you know that Shinozaki is trying to look up ways to bring everyone back?”  
  
“She's _what_?”  
  
“Yeah, I know. Crazy, right? We're moving on and accepting that we lost them and yet Shinozaki and Nakashima are clinging to the hopes that we can save them.” Yoshiki sighed. “I want them back too, y'know? But at the same time…”  
  
“It's better not to mess with things we know nothing about. She hasn't learned her lesson from the Sachiko Ever After, has she?”  
  
“I don't think so.”  
  
Satoshi pinched the bridge of his nose as he hung his head with an aggravated sigh. “Great. That's just _great_.”  
  
“You could probably talk her out of it. Sure as hell won't listen to what I have to say about it.”  
  
“Yeah right. She'd just tell me that I don't have any idea what I'm talking about since I'm not into that stuff. Like I'd need to be to know something really bad is going to happen if she messes with it again.”  
  
The sad thing about it is that neither of them were wrong about their assumptions.


End file.
